The Flourishing Business of Fake YouTube Views (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Martin Vassilev makes a good living selling fake views on YouTube videos. Working from home in Ottawa, he has sold about 15 million views so far this year, putting him on track to bring in more than $200,000, records show. Mr. Vassilev, 32, does not provide the views himself. His website, 500Views.com, connects customers with services that offer views, likes and dislikes generated by computers, not humans. When a supplier cannot fulfill an order, Mr. Vassilev -- like a modern switchboard operator -- quickly connects with another. "I can deliver an unlimited amount of views to a video," Mr. Vassilev said in an interview. "They've tried to stop it for so many years, but they can't stop it. There's always a way around."

[...] Just as other social media companies have been plagued by impostor accounts and artificial influence campaigns, YouTube has struggled with fake views for years. The fake-view ecosystem of which Mr. Vassilev is a part can undermine YouTube's credibility by manipulating the digital currency that signals value to users. While YouTube says fake views represent just a tiny fraction of the total, they still have a significant effect by misleading consumers and advertisers.

Comments

Re:It ACTUALLY does not happen

[mi]

When checked

When checked

a few voters out of millions *at most*

Yep, sure. YouTube would've liked you to believe the same thing.

very difficult to pass for poor

Presenting identification is not difficult. Or are you going to claim, alcohol and tobacco-sellers are all racists?

See such assholes long saw [...]

Yep, "assholes". Or — just as I said — "hateful racists".

they have no time left to pass through hoops

What "hoops"?

voter fraud is incredibly rare and negligible

How would you know? It has never been properly investigated...

Then advance evidence

You just made a claim, that it is incredibly rare and negligible. The burden of proof is on you...

All those which exists out there all shows voter fraud to be extremely negligible.

You've cited surprisingly few sources for a claim this bold...